SALT LAKE ÇITY — Only nine states had 100 percent student participation in taking ACT tests last year but of those, Utah students scored highest.

Utah’s average composite ACT score was 20.7, the same as it was in the prior year, when fewer students participated.

Students in Illinois, where 100 percent took the test, scored 20.6. Colorado students ranked third in the category, with 20.4.

In many states, far less than 100 percent participate in the national exam. Maine, for example, had only 8 percent tested. Their average was 23.5 percent. The top score overall was Massachusetts, where 22 percent of graduates particpated, and earned a 24.1. The national average was 21.9 percent.

“What this data says to me, is that when you compare Utah’s results with states that have comparable participation, Utahns are getting an extraordinary return on their investment in public education,” said State Superintendent of Public Instuction Martell Menlove, in a press release. “Utah students, their teachers and their parents can be proud of these results.”